This invention relates to a fishing rod holder mount for selectively and temporarily being installed on a boat rail.
Fishermen have long been plagued by how to securely hold a fishing rod in a boat, particularly while trolling or while on a fishing dock or pier while waiting for a fish to strike. Fishermen have tried to solve this problem by just laying the rod in the boat while trolling or laying the rod on the dock or pier. However, during trolling, if the lure or hook strikes an obstruction, the rod can be pulled out of the boat and the fisherman may either then lose their tackle, or the rod may broken or be damaged. If a fish violently strikes the boat or lure, the rod may be pulled overboard while trolling from a boat or while fishing from a dock or pier. In addition, if one fisherman in a boat is trolling and another is casting, it often results in tangling of lines unless the rod under trolling can be kept in a low profile position that does not obstruct the casting of the other rod.
Many boats have lacked sufficient numbers of or had poorly positioned rod holders. It is generally accepted that simultaneously fishing with multiple lines in the water dramatically increases the chances of catching a fish. Beyond the obvious advantage of merely increasing the odds of a strike, each hook may be placed at a different depth, different baits may be used, or other factors may be varied to determine an effective combination for a particular type of fish at a particular location at that particular time. Rod holders have been developed for a number of environments, allowing a single fisherman to maintain several rods at one time whether fishing from a boat, a dock, a bank side, bridge, or other.
In addition, rod holders have been developed in a variety of styles to fill various competing needs, i.e. rod holders for temporary installation versus rod holders for permanent installation; rod holders which hold the rod handle versus rod holders which support the rod while the handle rests on the ground or deck; rod holders developed specifically for use on a particular type of boat; rod holders to be supported from an automobile; rod holders for anchoring to the ground, and the like.
Rod holders are typically mounted to the boat or fishing vessel by some type of rod holder mount. In some instances, the rod holders are directly mounted into a complementary fastener found within the boat or fishing vessel. Usually, the limitations of prior art rod holders are due to an inability to effectively mount the rod holder.
A limitation of prior art rod holder mounts is that they cannot always mount in a convenient place. For example, most fisherman will want their fishing rod to be at an elevated position with a portion of the fishing rod extending out of the boat. However, most fishing rod holder mounts were only capable of being mounted in the floor of a boat. Another limitation is that prior art holder mounts are not readily portable and selectively placeable. Yet another limitation of many prior art rod holder mounts is the complexity of manufacturing the device. Ideally, a rod holder mount should be relatively simple to manufacture and should employee a minimal number of fasteners which may inadvertently loosen during use or which may be accidentally lost. Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fishing rod holder mount which overcomes the problems and alleviates the needs discussed above.